RAF Heraldry Trust

I received the following email from the highly respected author and historian Ken Delve, Trustee to the RAF Heraldry Trust. I am sure you will all agree of the importance of this magnificent work and its vital importance in preserving our RAF heritage.

Please take time to visit the RAF Heraldry Trust web-site at raft.co.uk or click on link.

Dear Steve

Many thanks for your quick and positive response – most appreciated! I have attached our latest press release and also a ‘poster’. Anything you can do to help spread the word by forwarding these to people you know, or adding to websites / facebook etc. would be most appreciated.

The 218 Squadron badge has already been sponsored – attached copy and I will find and send you a copy with the full details (like the IX Sqn one), but we are still looking for help with a great many other badges and people can find details on our website http://www.rafht.co.uk (although we are still in process of building the content and search).

In the meantime, thanks again for your offer to help promote the Trust.

RAF HERALDRY TRUST – PRESS RELEASE 15 MAY 2016

All Operational Flying Squadron badges completed! ……….. But ……………

With just under 2 years to go to the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, the RAF Heraldry Trust is looking your help in completing the 1,315 approved badges that will make up the RAF Heraldic Collection.

The work has been progressing steadily with individual sponsors for a number of years, but we need YOUR HELP NOW. There a still some hundreds of badges in search of a sponsor, a list of these can be found on our website http://www.rafht.co.uk or by contacting one of the Trustees.

Many of the remaining badges are of the ‘less popular’ or less well known training or non- flying units, so we would like your help with those.

Sponsors can:

• Sponsor one specific badge, and be shown as sponsor of that badge
• Donate towards a badge, and be listed as a ‘Trust Sponsor’

Publication

We are finalizing details of a commemorative book that will be present all the badges in colour on good quality paper. This will likely be in a slipcase, and in addition to the artwork will include short articles with stories of some of the badges, Standards and Battle Honours, and a list of all sponsors and donors.

Any profit from sales of the book will be used by the Trust to support preservation and display of the artwork.

Special Offer: All sponsors and donors will be entitled to a copy of the book at 25% discount, in recognition of their help in the project!

If you would like more details of the commemorative book, then please contact one of the
Trustees below.

Sponsors for the Commemorative Book: If you would like to be one of the sponsors for the commemorative book, then please contact one of the Trustees.

The RAF Heraldry Trust aims to catalogue the heraldic badges for every RAF unit (squadrons, stations, regiments, etc.) both past and present.

The definitive hand painted pages will be housed as a permanent record in RAF Cranwell’s Library, where it may be consulted by interested individuals and organisations, for educational and research purposes.

The RAFHT’s aim is to preserve the heritage of the RAF which is otherwise in danger of being lost as the members of older squadrons pass away and the risk that their badges are forgotten or lost.

The badges are repainted by heraldic artist, Mary Denton BA (Hons), on to goatskin parchment paper using 23.75 carat gold leaf and gouache paints which have an excellent resistance to fading.

HELP!

We are aiming to complete the entire collection in time for the RAF’s 100th birthday in April 2018.

SPONSOR A BADGE!

Each page is finished with calligraphy recording all the badge’s details, including a dedication specified
by each sponsor.

You may decide to sponsor a badge for a unit with which you, a relative or a friend had a direct connection. You may decide to join with a group of ex-RAF colleagues to sponsor a badge together.

You may simply decide to make a donation that enables the Trust to commission paintings of badges for which direct sponsorship is more difficult, such as with some of the post-war UK-based smaller units.

As you can see in the example below, for a Squadron the badge painting includes the official Battle Honours awarded to the Squadron. For all units, the lower part of the painting includes historical details such as heraldic description, motto, and date of issue of the badge, as well as the sponsor dedication.

Cost? The current cost of sponsoring a badge is £125 (GBP).

What Next? If you would like to sponsor a badge, or would like to know more about the work of the RAF Heraldry Trust, then please contact one of the following Trustees:

More Information?

You can find out more about the work of the Trust on our website and Facebook page (and please become one of our followers!)